The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018 released earlier this month through up quite a surprise for Indian educational institutions, with not even one of them ranked inside the Top 200. Also, the number of Indian universities among the top 1,000 dropped marginally from 31 to 30. Quite baffling, one might think, considering the competitiveness of the admissions process, where often hundreds of candidates compete for a single seat at the premier educational institutions.

The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India’s top ranked institute, declined from the 201-250 band to the 251-300 band, primarily due to a drop in its research influence score and research income. It was also ranked above the Indian Institute of Technology, which didn’t do particularly well in the rankings. Even though IIT - Bombay retained its position in the 351400 band, four other iits, namely those in Delhi, Madras and Kanpur fell by at least one band in their ranking, and are ranked in the 501600 group.

Before analyzing the findings, I shall divide article into two parts: first I shall analyze the reasons for the Indian institutions falling in the rankings and then I will explain the reasons why rankings some times need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Here are some of the reasons why Indian educational institutions have fallen in the rankings.

Low Percentage of International Faculty & International Students: One area where Indian Universities fall short is the proportion of international students and the number of international faculty. A case in point in the Times Ranking is the University of Oxford, which scored highest on this parameter, where a whopping 38 percent population is of Indian students. Conversely, international students comprise only one percent of the total student strength at iisc, Bangalore.

Low Research Volume & Citations: The rankings also depend upon an institute’s research output, citations received by the faculty, and research funding, among other factors. In the area of research funding and citations, one drawback is that most of the premier institutes in the country cater to one particular stream. E.g. Engineering or management. This consequently reduces the volume and variety of research. Also, both the intake of students and corresponding faculty is also smaller than the top ranking universities across the globe, resulting in the number of research citations being lesser than the institutions abroad.

Government Policy: The government’s policy not only limits foreign universities

from establishing branches and awarding degrees in India, but also prevents universities from hiring international scholars for long term faculty positions, as well as limiting the number of students from abroad who can study in India.

High student-faculty ratio decreases the quality of education and results in undue pressure on the faculty, resulting in less than optimum productivity for both the teacher and student

Student Faculty Ratio: One of the major issues with top educational institutes in India is the student faculty ratio, or the number of students per faculty member. In case of a high ratio, this decreases the quality of education, and also results in undue pressure on the faculty, resulting in less than optimum productivity for both the teacher and student.

While it cannot be denied that the Indian education system over all needs an overhaul, especially in the areas of research outcomes, research funding and attracting international students, as well as improving the student-teacher ratio, a closer analysis will reveal why one needs to look beyond these rankings.

First of all, there is no standardization in the ranking methodology by different publications, which leads to a wide disparity in rankings obtained, with an institution being ranked much higher by one publication compared with the ranking it may have obtained according to another publication. For instance, in the global rankings of the Top 100 MBA schools in 2016, IIM Ahmedabad was ranked 24th worldwide by the Financial Times, whereas it obtained a ranking of 92 according to The Economist. Again, in 2016, The University Of Queensland Business School was ranked the 10th best business school worldwide according to The Economist, and the Financial Times did not even rank it among the Top 100 business schools worldwide.

Yes, you heard that right! This one surely takes the cake, and eats it too!!

The next logical question is, why such disparity in rankings? The reasons are not far to seek. Often schools participate in one rankings survey and skip participation in another. At times its voluntary and at times, it’s some-what beyond their control. E.g. They do not get enough time to respond to the questionnaires. Not only this, many rankings are done on an invitation only basis, which results in numerous meritorious institutions not even getting a chance to even participate, and hence not figure in the ratings.

Also, different publications give different weight age to different parameters. For some, placements are assigned greater importance, whereas some attach greater importance to other factors, such as the percentage of international students and academic papers.

One of the parameters several rankings use, especially for management schools, is the number of graduates with a job offer within 3 months of graduation. Often the entire class in several of the top management schools in India have a job offer by graduation itself. Why don’t the rankings reflect this, one might logically ask?

Finally, these rankings also consider the number of undergraduate students at a university which explains why none of the IIMs or IISERs (Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research) makes it to the rankings.

In conclusion, while rankings are important, they are just one of the factors in deciding where to pursue one’s education. Rankings are like statistics, and are often deceptive, as they frequently hide more than they reveal.